Product Guides

The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world. Major brands are exploiting garment workers and harming the environment in the production of shoes and clothing. However, there has been a rise in sustainable fashion brands, making everything from sportswear to underwear who are putting people and the planet before profit.

Product Guides

As food & drink prices continue to rise across the world, it is often the producers and workers who are losing out to big corporations. We shine a light on the food sovereignty movement pushing for a fairer food system that supports local business and we comment on the rise of veganism.

Product Guides

Many of the issues from our homes & garden are often hidden from the consumer, from toxic chemicals in our cleaning products to pesticides in our garden. We look at the greenest way to wash, clean and cook and how to recycle your old appliances.

The mainstream banking & insurance industries continue to invest in shady investments such as fossil fuels and nuclear weapons. However, a growing number of ethical alternatives makes it easier than ever to switch to a sustainable bank account or pick an insurance company with an ethical policy.

We look at shops or online platforms that sell a range of products, and how they tend to dominate the market by implementing a profit-first business model and by having a lacklustre approach to ethical practice. We also celebrate ethical companies offering an alternative, from online retailers to sustainable fashion brands.

Product Guides

The tech sector is plagued by reports of tax avoidance, corporate lobbying and the use of conflict minerals. We look at the brands proving that technology can be made ethically, from Fairphone to Green ISP.

Product Guides

Are you a lover of the outdoors? Unfortunately the companies that provide your outdoor gear & transport are often harming the environment; from car companies cheating emission tests to outdoor gear companies using toxic chemicals that damage the environment. We provide practical information for consumers on how to keep your ethics while you travel.

Ethical benefits of not eating meat

What are the ethical and environmental pros and cons of veganism and vegetarianism? A definitive guide from Ethical Consumer

Today most meat and dairy products are produced using intensive farming methods. Meat production obviously involves the slaughter of animals, which is enough for some people to give it up altogether.

But on top of this, intensive farming also often results in appalling animal cruelty up until the animals are killed - being kept in crowded and filthy conditions, injuries left untreated and with no access to outdoors are all commonplace.

While opposition to the killing of animals is a common reason cited by vegetarians, it’s often overlooked that dairy production also involves slaughter. Male calves are removed from their mother at birth and killed or exported to the continent for veal production. Female calves are kept to become the next generation of milk-producers.

Since 2010 Soil Association organic standards have specified that licensees must have a plan to end the practice of culling newborn calves within five years.

Another big reason people are going veggie or vegan is to protect the environment. Vast deforestation is taking place in Latin America to make room for soya cultivation, and 97% of the crop is being grown to feed animals for meat or dairy production. Methane from farm animals contributes to 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions alone.

Meat production also impacts on human rights - while people in some countries are starving, one third of the world's grain production is being fed to farmed animals in rich countries.

Because of the demand for animal feed, a Western meat-based diet uses four and a half times more land than is necessary for a vegan diet and two and a quarter times more than for a vegetarian diet.

How to avoid animal products

It can be surprising which products contain animal products in today’s culture of mass production of processed food – as well as avoiding the obvious like meat, cheese and eggs, vegans have to keep an eye on what’s in their wine, beer, make up and even carpets and furniture.

You can use our product guides to see which companies use animal derived ingredients. All our best buy recommendations in our meat-free burgers and sausages guide are vegan products.

Also of interest

In this guide we investigate, score and rank the ethical and environmental record of 32 brands of meat alternatives.
We also look at soya's link to deforestation in Brazil, palm oil, shine a spotlight on the ethics of Beyond Meat and give our recommended buys.